Admission into training represented an important turning point in a boy’s life in the pre-modern era. With a wise choice of the future profession the path to the guaranteed material existence as well as social reputation opened. In place of the boy, parents and the three Fates decided. Excluding the number of apprentices who have finished the training at home (in the home workshop), leaving for training was associated with leaving home, the integration into a new life community and a new household. Responsibility for the apprentice's livelihood, education, professional development and security was handed to the master and his wife, but also assistants and other members of the large household contributed to the process of his education. Eventually also the state determined that this was an important process and specified in the guild regulations basic guidelines of craft training. Later apprentices were included into individual forms of regular schooling (Sunday schools). The successful completion of craft training was dependent on the attendance of Sunday schools and religious education. Information regarding this is hidden in guild regulations, books and documents. The wider historical perspective will be outlined with the help of literature. I will limit myself to the period between two main legal acts, which regulated the trade – Inner Austrian Trade Rules of Charles VI. (1732) and the Trades Act of 1859.